The Bilora Bella DC4 - Warts and All

<p >Picked up for £1.99 plus postage from Ebay. It caught my attention because unlike most of these Biloras and similar budget 1950's and 60's cameras it had a 55mm F3.5 Rodenstock Trinar lens. Most have simple meniscus or doublet F8 lenses. When I got it the shutter wouldn't operate so I had to remove the lens and face plate, when I found that a rotating lever which connected the operating button to the mechanism was bent, and it wasn't turning far enough to trip it. A tweak with a pair of pliers and all was well, followed by re-setting the lens focus. The viewfinder has started to de-silver but its usable.</p>

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<p >The Bilora Bella DC4 was manufactured by the Kurbi & Niggeloh Company of Radevormwald/RHLD, Germany in circa 1959. So it says on the Historic Camera web site. It's designed to take 16 4cm by 4cm pictures on 120 film. This must be an upmarket model with the Trinar and a four speed Prontor shutter. Like all Biloras it's nicely made with a metal body and attractively finished.<br /></p>

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<p >Inside I noticed that there was a 4x4 plastic mask, secured by four screws. I thought it would be interesting to see how well the 55mm lens covered 6x6, so I removed the mask, revealing a near 6x6 opening. I painted the bare metal inside black and glued in strips of cardboard to bring the film to the correct position. By winding to 1 - 3 - 5 - 9 etc I was able to make eight exposures on a 400 ISO black and white film.</p><div></div>

<p>The paint was supposed to be matt black but it was actually too shiny.</p>

<p>Sorry no picture.</p><div></div>

<p >All the pictures were taken within the space of a few minutes at Leicester North station on the preserved great Central Railway. </p><div></div>

<p>It certainly doesn't cover 6x6!</p><div></div>

<p >Also there seems to be a light leak. Difficult to find as its one of those cameras where the back and bottom slide away from the body in one piece to open it. I think it got in via the latch in the base, made worse by me removing the mask. It seems strange because I wouldn't have though any of the frames were in position long enough to get fogged.</p><div></div>

<p>Another one.</p><div></div>

<p >I must get around to using it in the way it was designed (the mask is already replaced), with a slower film, tape over the red window and around the joins between body and back and over the latch, to try and do justice to the lens.</p><div></div>

<p>Last one - my shadow is in it, too. The other two are just too poor to show.<br>

I should add that the film was developed commercially and "scanned" using my Sony DSLR and 50mm Macro.<br>

Thanks for looking.</p><div></div>

<p>We don' need no steenkin' LOMO!<br>

I like, very much.<br>

Heaven help me, I simply can't allow myself to get involved with WEST German cameras, but it's all I can do to not go directly on eBay and hunt for one of these.</p>

<p>And </p>

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<p>Kurbi & Niggeloh Company of Radevormwald</p>

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<p>How could you beat that? Somehow trumps all those small VEBs in the early history of the Sowjetische Besatzungs-Zone.<br>

Bravo and thanks.</p>

<p>Well, I guess it was a little optimistic, expecting the 55mm Trinar to cover 6x6 format...But an interesting exercise, <strong>John</strong>. Ignoring the light leaks, the images look as if they might have been quite acceptable when cropped to the intended 4x4 format. Oddly enough, now I have a few rolls of 127 film, I was considering running one through the pretty Bilora Bella 44 with the Achromat f/8 lens of unknown focal length, so a comparison might be interesting. Thanks for an interesting post.</p>

Never mind all that. You actually have old steam locomotives doing regular passenger runs? And in keeping with the days of old, I admire how in the last photo you have the big shadow of the person taking the photo running up from the foreground. That reminds me of most of the photos taken by my parents in the 1940s and 1950s. ("Always aim the camera with the sun behind you.")

<p>Somehow the vignetting and light leaks adds authenticity to the shots of the steam engines. I also like how you were willing to try something different with this camera.</p>

<p>Thanks for the responses. Yes we are very fortunate in Leicester to have the Great Central Railway, the remains of a main line which once ran from London to Yorkshire, but was closed in the 1960's. Trains, often steam hauled, run regularly at weekends and bank holidays to Loughborough, about 8 miles Notrhwards, where the group has its main depot. There is another preserved line in Leicestershire, too, called the Battlefield line as it is near to the Bosworth Battle field.</p>

<p>I must get out there with a classic camera, at some point.</p>

<p>The name BILORA was taken from the two names of the founders of the company plus the name of the town they were in: kür<strong>BI</strong> - nigge<strong>LO</strong>h - <strong>RA</strong>devormwald. As a brand Bilora is still in existence.</p>

 

<p>Love the subject John, just the ticket for a CC, shame about the light leaks. You will have to fix that and get some more shots of those wonderful trains....and I think that the vignetting is kind of cool.<br>

I don't have any Biloras, nice to read about this one.</p>

<p>The light leaks can be fixed; the vignetting is beautiful IMHO. And the images seem sharp. Nice job on fixing the shutter, nice photos!</p>

<p>I like the effect. Thanks for posting.</p>

<p>Bedeviled by light leaks.. been there Grrr.. Still interesting camera and the results seem promising. Please do it again. The leak is quite insistent Mine (3 rolls of film) turned out to be in the stud for the film end/tripod socket. It was microscopic and hard to find. </p>

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